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Post by shiloh on Nov 2, 2013 3:36:23 GMT
This is how I feel about this forum and I seek people like you members.....lol..we are few for the moment but there WILL be many to come. The Loneliness of the Christianby A. W. Tozer The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone. The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way. The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens. He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart. It is this very loneliness that throws him back upon God. His inability to find human companionship drives him to seek in God what he can find nowhere else." www.crossroad.to/Bible_studies/sermons/devotions/loneliness.htm Fair use for Discussion Purposes
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Post by Benjamin on Nov 2, 2013 3:52:22 GMT
...that pretty much sums up my entire life. I was lucky in many respects in that I attended a Christian school, and have been blessed with many Christian friends throughout my life - but even then, so few are actually willing to TALK about the Lord (which is a concern in and of itself). Even among those who are, I have quite literally no friends that have a belief in the rapture, or understand the place of Israel in the world, or in God's plan.
That alone is alienating. To feel that something is so important, so vital, so IMMINENT, and yet to have nobody that understands or even cares to... it's a difficult thing. Again, I've been lucky in that my parents are both in this same position, so I've been blessed to have those conversations there. It must be so lonely for those who haven't been blessed in that way!
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Post by morningstar on Nov 2, 2013 4:23:03 GMT
And why does it have to be this way? Especially amongst your Brothers and Sisters in Christ? I guess it's because of such diversity in beliefs and denominations, or apathy towards the Word of God. My foremost study in scripture is the Prophetic Word of God, the End Times and Israel. Even there we run into extremes either they don't want to talk about it, or they are looking under every rock for a sign. As the signs are increasing so are the speculators dis-regarding the command of God to "Watch and be sober". That was a lovely post Shiloh, and so very true.
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Post by Benjamin on Nov 2, 2013 11:51:41 GMT
so... does this mean that neither of you have any friends to invite? 'cause I've already invited both of you, so my work is done...
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Post by morningstar on Nov 2, 2013 16:25:57 GMT
That is so funny Benjamin..LOL... Seems like it though, you should have named this forum "Voices crying in the Wilderness"..You started this forum, and Shiloh posted this thread so I am going to put it back on both of you to get it going...LOL!!!
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Post by shiloh on Nov 2, 2013 17:32:11 GMT
hahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaa...That is so funny, you guys! I am laughing so hard! Benjamin, this is a lovely site because we're all lovely members...lololol... yet it's a brand new site. It'll get members. I'm going to get my daughter to join. I think she'd love it. She's a moderator on a Christian facebook site called "Simply Christian" and thinks the same way we all do. They have the same problems the other site does but they don't put up with it. Maybe I can get at least one of my sisters and as far as friends.....none of them have a passion for prophecy or the Word in itself, let alone the Rapture. It's like when you're in a crowded roomful of people and still feel lonely. I'm gonna have to think and pray on how to go about this but I'm going to steal some members from RITA...lol...I'd really like to get In Christ over here, Yohanan and some others. I'm probably going to have to go through the mods to ask for their emails though. Ya think they'll suspect something's up? LOL.
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Post by morningstar on Nov 2, 2013 20:18:53 GMT
I'm probably going to have to go through the mods to ask for their emails though. Ya think they'll suspect something's up? LOL. YES!!!...LOL~~
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Post by Benjamin on Nov 2, 2013 21:32:33 GMT
See, honestly, I'd invite people, but aside from people at RITAN (and I never really got to know anybody there all that well, honestly, but then, I haven't even been there for very long), I don't think I know a single person who believes in the Rapture... and beyond that, most of the Christians I know are hardly invested as it is.
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Post by shiloh on Nov 2, 2013 21:34:38 GMT
Too obvious, eh? I don't know what the big deal would be though because there are members on there that post on more than one forum. Some have even referenced to certain forums that they saw a member's post on.
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Post by Benjamin on Nov 2, 2013 21:43:36 GMT
I know what you mean. I'd love to have some of the RITAN people here (ALL are welcome), but I don't want it to be a point of contention. I didn't start this site to compete with RITAN - both have their place, and both have good people who are earnestly seeking the Lord. Even those that I've disagreed with over there - I may take issue with their approach, or their doctrine, but I don't question their love for the Lord. They're sincere, even if they're barking up the wrong Nibiru. I think it's important that we stress that point. This isn't the "I hate RITAN so I'm running away" club.
Really, the point of differentiation here will most likely be one of moderation. I expect that the time will come here that posts crop up with error in them - or dreams and visions that aren't substantiated by Scripture. Those things will be moderated here; and if they're found to be in error, will not be retained. This way, until He Comes, this site can be a source of encouragement and support for all of us, and perhaps, after we're gone, a place that people might stumble upon that contains useful, Biblical and reliable information about our Lord and His return.
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Post by shiloh on Nov 2, 2013 21:49:36 GMT
Benjamin, we must have ben posting at the same time. Some on there, I can tell are very sound in their doctrine. You know they feel the same way about things but don't want to say anything. Some of them quit posting altogether on there. Many of them probably just lurk now. Margaret told me she went through her email list and I did too. I'm going down the list and thinking, "he's an agnostic", "she's too busy to be bothered with the Word", "he's Replacement theology", "he laughs at me about the Rapture and tells me to wait for my spaceship because 'it's all sensationalism according to him'", "she's lost her first love and no longer interested", "she's political only", "this one is not interested in prophecy", etc., but all these same people ask me to pray for them. They don't know how I already AM praying for them. Don't worry. We'll get members. It'll happen and I am praying for this site because your motives are pure and toward the Lord. Also, people will find it through just searching on the internet for Rapture sites. That's how most people find a site.
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Post by shiloh on Nov 2, 2013 21:54:20 GMT
Benjamin, for a lot of those dreams and visions things, why don't you just add a"hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh" (long sigh) button...lol...that's all I do when I've read them. I don't even read those threads anymore.
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Post by Benjamin on Nov 2, 2013 21:59:15 GMT
I'm not worried about members coming in. Honestly, I'm not even worried about getting new members at all. If this site serves as an encouragement even just to the three of us (and my mother, who is lurking around somewhere here), then that's job done.
My thinking though, isn't so much about getting more people, but about letting the others out there who are in this same boat, enduring "The Loneliness of the Christian", know that they're NOT alone.
It's ironic, but the world we live in places each one of us in an Elijah scenario.
1 Kings 19:
I don't normally quote that much text, but it's worth repeating. It is so easy for us to feel like we're all alone - because in many respects, we are - isolated in our communities, isolated in our families, isolated even in our own churches (I go to a Presbyterian church - Replacement Theology / Amillennial - and all that comes with it)... ...but we're not alone. God had reserved a remnant for Himself, even in these Last Days. This is a place for them - a place for the remnant.
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Post by shiloh on Nov 3, 2013 1:43:55 GMT
I love that, Benjamin and those verses are so fitting. I also know there are more of the remnant out there. They will come here.
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Post by morningstar on Nov 3, 2013 3:29:23 GMT
Good verses Benjamin, and your right it does fit in today's Churches, good comparison.
P.S. Hi Ben's Mom (who is lurking) God Bless you dear!!
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Post by shiloh on Nov 3, 2013 6:01:57 GMT
Yes, please stop being a lurker, Ben's mom. You've done such a fine job with your son and he's very grounded in the Word and loves the Lord with all his heart. We need more like him.
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